Riverfront Stadium was the third of the National League’s infamous "cookie-cutter" stadiums, debuting five years after Atlanta-Fulton County Stadium, four years after St. Louis’s Busch Stadium and two weeks before Pittsburgh’s Three Rivers Stadium. It was the first stadium to have its entire field covered by Astroturf, except for the cutouts around the bases and pitcher’s mound. Construction on the press box and stadium club was never finished. In its very first season it managed to host an All-Star Game, a playoff series, and a World Series. Before Riverfront Stadium opened on June 30, 1970, the Reds had spent 58 years playing at intimate Crosley Field, baseball’s only park with a two-tiered outfield. After more than three decades of talking about building a ballpark on the scenic Ohio riverfront, Cincinnati finally made it a reality.

In 1997, Cinergy Corporation, a Cincinnati based utility, reached an agreement with the Reds to rename the stadium Cinergy Field. That name was retained until the ballpark was demolished in 2002.

Before the beginning of the 2001 baseball season, the outfield stands were removed to facilitate construction of Great American Ball Park, the new ballpark built next to Riverfront Stadium. Another project which was undertaken was to replace the artificial turf with natural grass.

Trivia:

First stadium to paint metric distances on outfield walls: 100.58 down the lines, 114.30 to the alleys, 123.13 to center.

Used Crosley Field’s home plate until April 1, 1997, when a new home plate was installed.

Basepads were been filled with dirt from a local graveyard.

Second base occupied the spot where the home of Roy Rogers, the singing cowboy, once stood.